As Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) finally uses some of the
$5 billion it raised to
acquire the generic injectables business of Austria's Ebewe Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is expanding in India.
Pfizer
entered into agreements with Claris Lifesciences Ltd. to commercialize sterile injectable medicines after the products are no longer patent protected. It also expanded agreements with Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. where it will commercialize the 60 products in phases, tailoring its approach for different regions.
A Reuters article said that in the developed world, Pfizer is seeking to
add $1 billion by 2012 for its established products unit, which includes its off-patent medicines.
Pfizer's new licensing agreements are in line with the general pharma consensus of beefing up business in the emerging markets and the generics sector. Although, with its $68 billion acquisition of smaller U.S. rival Wyeth, it stands only with Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Roche Holding AG (SWX:ROG) on the megamerger front. Many others are
taking the bolt-on route.
After those megadeals, Novartis, along with others such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) and Bayer AG, were expected to get moving with acquisitions. Sanofi-Aventis SA (NYSE:SNY) was also mentioned among them. It has announced a
string of bolt-on deals and just signed a
licensing deal with Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd. Novartis still has a good amount of funds to keep on the acquisition trail.
The Deal Pipeline noted that Novartis has used its Sandoz generics unit to wage an acquisition battle with Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. for the top spot on the world's generic drugs market. Novartis paid €925 million ($1.3 billion) deal for the Ebewe unit. -
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